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Deducting one star as it is only really suitable for pregnancy/metal allergies

==Argos Bio-flex body bar==

Being pregnant I soon found out that my ordinary belly bar wasn't going to last for long by about 8 weeks I was in agony, the metal was already beginning to irritate the piercing site even though I have had it pierced for years. I was told by a friend who had recently had a baby that she swore by bio-flex bars when she was pregnant, to be honest I didn't have a clue what she was on about as I had never come across these bars before as I usually stuck with stainless steel or titanium bars as I am lucky enough not to get an allergic reaction unlike a lot of people. I was shopping with my husband when we decided to pop into the local Argos, mainly to have a browse at the baby items, it quickly entered my head about the bio-flex bar and I quickly found it in the catalogue; the one down side being they only had one of the bars and it was plain clearish plastic with a plain gem in the bottom. I normally like a bit of a choice when it comes to things like this but as I was nearly in agony with my existing bar I thought beggars can't be choosers so I opted to try the bar.

The bar itself is particularly long, however it can be cut down, I wouldn't advise this if you are purchasing it because you are pregnant. I found the bar was quite long at first but as your bump expands the bar bends with the shape of your bump and it fits quite nicely now I am at 38 weeks. The ball to secure the bar is not an ordinary screw on ball but it simply fits the bar inside with a slight push, it can be quite awkward to get the bar in at first but I have not removed the bar my whole pregnancy and have found that the ball has stayed in place unlike some screw on balls which randomly unscrew and go missing. The bar is extremely comfortable and I often find myself forgetting that I have still got one in due to the flexibility of the bar; it bends as you bend so there is no uncomfortable feeling like you would have if you were to keep a solid metal bar in.

The bar cost £4.99, I think I got mine on offer for something like 2 for £6 this deal has now ended but it would be worth looking up in future. I think for the price it is incredibly worth it as it has saved me roughly £40 as I will not need to get it re- pierced which was what would have happened if I had left it without a bar for this length of time, so not only has it saved me a good sum of money it has also saved me the unnecessary pain of getting it re-pierced and having to go through the uncomfortable healing process again. You may be thinking why all this bother? Why don't you just leave it to heal up and leave it as that? Well, a few years ago I had a laparoscopy in which they cut through you belly button and underneath and do the operation in a key-hole fashion, this no doubt left me with quite a scar inside my belly button and wearing my belly bar helps cover this scar. I am not against scars I have plenty but it's nice to cover this particular scar due to its location.

I would recommend this bar to anyone who would benefit due to allergy from other metals or if they are pregnant. I wouldn't recommend this bar to the average person with their belly bar pierced as it is quite plain and it would be a pain to cut to fit the individual person.

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A bump friendly bellybar

Since I have had my belly button pierced when I was 17 I have always been quite lucky with it in that I have had no real problems with it healing and I have always been able to wear pretty much most metals in it, even the cheaper bars I purchased didn't irritate me, that was until I was several months pregnant. For one of my scans (I have several being diabetic) I was asked to remove the bar but told I could put it back after the scan, I was happy to do this and didn't think anything of it, however a few days later I noticed that around the top part of my bar was starting to get sore, this lasted for a few days but with no sign of infection, I decided to swap the bar and put a gold bar in it, after a day of wearing the gold bar the redness started to fade a little indicating that it was the silver metal of the previous bar that for some reason started to irritate my skin, it was almost like it had burnt me. I did a bit of research into this and discovered that you can actually buy belly button bars which contain no metal at all and are designed to be worn during pregnancy, the metal free material means the bar cannot irritate your skin should you become allergic to your regular bars and it is also flexible to accommodate your bump. I decided to hunt around for one of these bars and discovered that Argos sold the Bio Flex Crystal Belly Bar, exactly what I was looking for.

The Bio Flex Belly Bar came in a small dark green square box similar to that of a ring box, inside the bar itself was sealed inside a small clear plastic resealable bag to protect it and help to keep it clean, to be honest the packaging it came in was pretty plain, however that didn't really bother me as it was the bar inside that was most important. When I decided to purchase one of the plastic belly button bars I did wonder about its appearance and whether it would look ugly, obviously no ones was really going to see it but I wanted something that was going to look half decent.

When I had a look at the bar I was pleased to see that it actually didn't look too bad, the whole bar is made from a whitish/ slightly transparent plastic, the bottom part which sits in your belly button has a large clear crystal in it which makes the bar look much prettier than if it was just made from a plain plastic, the crystal is actually quite sparkly in the light. The bar has a small ball on the top of it to secure it in place just like regular metal bars, the only difference with this one is obviously it is made from the same whitish clear plastic as the rest of the bar and it does not screw onto the bar, it simply pushes onto the end of it, I did wonder how secure this would actually be with the ball just being pushed onto the bar but it fits surprisingly tight, when I have removed the bar for cleaning it is actually quite hard to get the ball off of the end of the bar so there is no worry about the ball coming loose and the bar falling out.

The two main features of the Bio Flex Bar is that it is metal and allergy free and also maternity friendly, the plastic material means that it will not irritate your skin if you are allergic to a lot of the metal bars. The plastic it is made from is also very flexible, it is actually quite bendy which makes it suitable if you are pregnant, the bar will move and flex with you are your bump grows allowing you to keep the piercing in place.For me the bar was more about the fact that the metal one was irritating my skin around the piercing, however it is good to know that the extra flexibility is there and that the hard metal is not going to press into my skin which can cause infection.

The Bio Flex Belly Bar is actually quite long and measures at 18mm, again this is designed with comfort in mind as it means that it is ideal to fit any size, if you are pregnant it doesn't matter what size your bump is the bio flex bar should comfortably fit. However if when you get the bar it is a bit too long you can easily cut it to length, all you need is a sharp pair of scissors or knife to cut through the top of the bar to shorten it slightly, once the right size you can place the ball back on the end of the bar. Personally I did not alter the length of the bar, I tried it before cutting it and although it was a bit on the long side I decided to just leave it as it was, when I bought the bar I still had a just over a couple of months left until the baby was due so I decided to leave it at the length it was in case I needed the extra. A few weeks on it is still a bit too long for me but I still have not bothered cutting it as I do not find it gets in the way and I like the fact that the bar can comfortably move around without digging into me, the bar is actually slightly curved like a regular metal belly button bar so it doesn't actually look that long when in place.

As I have mentioned I purchased the Bio Flex Crystal Set Belly Bar from my local Argos, the bar only cost me £4.99 which I thought was excellent value for money. Obviously the bar doesn't look as good as the regular metal ones but it is a lot cheaper than other metal bars and the main thing is that it does what it says which is it doesn't irritate the skin and is suitable to wear throughout your pregnancy. In my opinion the bar is well worth the £4.99 I paid for it and I was more than happy to pay this price for it.

Overall I would definitely recommend the Bio Flex Crystal Set Belly Bar, it was a worthwhile purchase in my opinion, the bar helped to heel up the irritated skin around my piercing and did not cause any further irritation, the flexible bar is ideal as it means that the bar does not dig into me as I move around. The bar was very reasonably priced and in my opinion good value for money and definitely worth it. The Bio flex Bar is also ideal for anyone who is allergic to metals but wants their belly button pierced. I would certainly recommend this bar to anyone, especially anyone who is pregnant as this is the perfect bar that allows you to keep your piercing throughout your pregnancy.